Tai Chi Health Benefits

Tai Chi health benefits are a bit of a mystery to most people in the Western world who have not been exposed to Tai Chi.  Also,Tai Chi health benefits have been mysticised quite a bit as a result.  Tai Chi health benefits include benefits to the mind, body and spirit.

Tai Chi health benefits for the mind are an easier concept for most people to grasp and are understood a little better  in our culture due to our modern day emphasis on stress relief.   As a result when most people think of Tai Chi health benefits they think of the stress relief as Tai Chi has been widely used in America as a stress reliever.  All you have to do is watch the slow, smooth, calm and peaceful movements or sit in on a class and you begin to relax and forget your troubles.

A simple way to begin to understand Tai Chi health benefits is to think of the negative effects of stress and the positive benefits of relieving that stress.  There are many studies available now that explain the negative physiological effects of stress in detail.  In a nutshell they include but are not limited to a greater propensity to get sick and a shortened life span as well as a reduced quality of life.  Also, stressed people generally tend to sleep less (upping the likelihood of getting sick due to a compromised immune system) and eat more.

So, Tai Chi benefits health quite directly by helping the individual to relax and unwind.  This means that Tai Chi health benefits include better protection against getting sick, better sleep, a longer life and a better quality of life.  On the surface this sounds like a bit of a stretch but the math is quite simple.  One of the Tai Chi health benefits is lower blood pressure.  I say this because I have had many older students come back from a regular Drs visit (annual check-up) and tell me that the Dr told them that their blood pressure had improved dramatically from prior visits.  This in itself lowers the risk of heart attack and stroke.

Often people doing research on Tai Chi look for measurable data to find out the secret to Tai Chi health benefits and there is measurable data to be found. However, I think this Tai Chi health benefit is simple.  Generally, higher stress means higher blood pressure and less stress means lower blood pressure.  There can be other causes and factors to consider but stress is known as a high killer of people for a reason.

to be continued…

Comments

  1. Hey man,
    I definitely notice the sleep benefits from only little practice. All I’ve done so far is the hug a tree form (or w.e it is), and I wake up earlier then I normally would. This is awesome I can’t wait to start a class.

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